Context of Practice 2: Summative Evaluation

This year I approached Context of Practice slightly differently than last year, largely due to my understanding of the module’s purpose this time around. Going into it, I knew that there had to be a continual synthesis between my theoretical and practical work and I feel that for the most part I succeeded in implementing this. I found that my practical explorations at several key points helped inform my theoretical work and vice versa. Due to awareness of the module this year, I made a point of continually researching throughout the year, be it by watching video clips, reading news articles and collecting ephemera concerning politics. However, whilst the amount of research this year dwarfed what I did OUIL401, I found that it was perhaps somewhat unfocused; this resulted in a portion of my research becoming redundant once I’d settled on an essay question. Going into Level 6 I will have to resolve this issue - my research will need to be focused and relevant. 

It is due to my research that I was able to make critical, and logical decisions in both my theoretical and practical work. My wide research base allowed me to make informed triangulated arguments within my essay, resulting in it being quite a smooth discussion to produce. Similarly, my developing knowledge of politics allowed me to create an strong, and at times humorous, practical piece that commented on the government and our attitudes towards it. I am very impressed with my practical piece as a whole, not just due to its theoretical foundations but also because of my exploration of media. Initially I tried to create a piece of work with hand, like the great cartoonists of the past such as James Gillray or modern cartoonists Steve Bell or Martin Rowson. However after many attempts at producing work in this method I returned to my guilty pleasure - digital. But digital as a sole method of production also failed to create an aesthetically pleasing outcome, it was only when I merged the two methods that my work truly came alive in my opinion. Despite my positive appraisal of my final product there are understandably a few issues that remain within it. Firstly, that characters within my book could have been improved upon somewhat - this could have been done with repetitive drawings as I found my stronger character designs generally came about due to this process. Secondly, the physical production of the book could have had more care given to it. Several of the pages are trimmed quite tightly and, although not apparent to the casual observer, are a thorn in my side. Perhaps more time could have been spent on its assembly to allow for a more careful hand crafted piece. Finally, although I am happy with the colouring of the book I feel more could have been done with it to create something truly memorable in a visual capacity.

Additionally, I feel that if I were to go back and do this module again I would have done a few other things differently, such as; the Nazi propaganda discussion within my essay. Whilst I felt that this was an interesting part of the paper, it seemed somewhat detached from the rest of the essay. I could potentially have found a way to better intricate it into the rest of the discussion. Given the time again I would also begin drafting my essay much earlier on within the year as I could have began writing segments of it much earlier on rather that waiting for a specific prolonged period of time (the Christmas holidays) to write it. That however shouldn’t act as reflection of my time management within this project, as I am in fact very pleased with my assertiveness throughout this year despite a few stumbles early on. I feel that my management of this module has provided me the time to get informed feedback from my peers and allowed me to make alterations to both my theoretical and practical work where needed. 

I hope to improve upon my increasingly assertive attitude towards Context of Practice going into Level 6 as I feel that such a mindset will be integral to my dissertation and the body of work that will accompany it.

Context of Practice 2: Final Practical Response

Here is my final practice piece for Context of Practice 2:

Context of Practice 2: Final Essay Response

Here is the final draft of my essay 'To What Extent Has the Role of Political Cartoons Changed Over the Years?'

Big Bother: Final Peer Review

Today was our final Peer Review. This basically acted as a presentation day with the time to make minor alterations to our work if need be before Tuesday's hand in. I received very positive feedback with people describing my work as funny, informed and well thought out. I am happy with this response and don't feel I have much left to do now other than double checking my blog and writing my Evaluation.

Big Bother Printed

Today thanks to well executed time management I was able to print off my Big Bother book with nearly a week to spare! I'm over the moon at having the physical copy in my hands. I feel that the theoretical aspect of my work has informed the production of this book integrally and believe that I have produced a series of illustrations that comment on politics in a similar vein to the words of Gill and Rowson et al.

There are a few faults though. Firstly my initial first page was miss cut so I had to print that out out again and once all of the pages were folded and stapled I noticed a few of the pages were miss cut also. To the casual observer this would go unnoticed, but for me I am very aware of this and it will gnaw at me. But I need to draw the line somewhere and for the purpose of this module it is now complete.

Big Bother: Completed

Here is the final finished version of my Big Bother book:



I am quite happy with the outcome to this, however the are some detractions, most notably being that some of my pages fall flat in terms of humour. My ability to make people laugh is something that I can work on in my own time away from college though (to my girlfriend's dismay). I also feel that some of my images aren't as well produced as others, this is down to lack of repetition on my part and is something I need to improve upon. Finally, and this is a mild annoyance. I meant to put '6 Politicians' on the inside cover where I instead put '6 Contestants'. This isn't too much of an issue as people with even a mild pool of political knowledge will understand who it is about.

Big Bother: Analogue and Digital

Yesterday I received a Pentel Aquash Brush Pen which I filled with black ink with the intention of using it for shading. The effect was pretty cool and I ended up outlining it using a dip pen and black ink (as apposed to other methods). At this point I thought about water colouring and how I could add colour to my work; I used a wash of watercolour but again it just looked to faint so I thought about digital colouring. This in turn looked much better, I felt that I had finally struck a balance between handmade and digital. Once that piece was finished I then set about drawing the remaining panels.

Research: Election Ephemera

Who to vote for? Who to vote for? Recently we've been receiving lots of post from certain political parties in an attempt to win our votes. This leaflets are tiring and irksome. I may put a notice on my front door letting them to stay away. I know who I plan to vote for as I am aware of politics and frequently comment on it; a leaflet won't change my mind.


 I'd like to believe the commentary within my Big Bother book would influence votes more than a boring leaflet with facts and figures within it.